BEA'S BOOK NOOK "I can't imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only once." C. S. Lewis “If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.” ― Oscar Wilde

Showing posts with label historical. Show all posts
Showing posts with label historical. Show all posts

Monday, April 27, 2020

Series Review: The Charlotte Brody Mysteries by Cathy Pegau


The Charlotte Brody mysteries are a historical cozy mystery series set in 1919. I'd had the first book in this series, Murder on the Last Frontier, in my TBR pile for three years and just read it last month. I liked it and promptly checked out the others from my library. I follow the author on Twitter and felt a little guilty about not having read any of her books yet. One good thing about being laid off due to the pandemic is that I have lots of free time for reading.

Thursday, March 5, 2020

Books From The Backlog: An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole


This is a fun meme! There used to be another meme about neglected TBR books, known as Dusty Reads. That meme died and recently this one popped up. I'm delighted to participate and I'm linking up with Carole from Carole's Random Life of Books for Books from the Backlog. Join the fun and share a neglected book from your shelf.

Friday, January 24, 2020

The Friday 56 and Book Beginnings on Fridays: The Holy Thief by Ellis Peters

I'm participating in two Friday book memes, Book Beginnings On Fridays, hosted by Rose City Reader, and The Friday 56, hosted by Freda's Voice.

"The Holy Thief" is book 19 in a 21 book series. I'd read the occasional book years ago and decided a few months ago to read the whole series from the beginning. I'll be starting this one this weekend.

Book Beginnings Rules:

Every Friday, share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author’s name.

Tuesday, January 14, 2020

Bea Reviews 'Til Death Do Us Part by Amanda Quick

Bea's Book Nook, Review, 'Til Death Do Us Part, Amanda Quick
Publisher: Thorndike Press Large Print
Source: Library
Release Date: May 4th, 2016
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository | Apple Books | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

The author of the New York Times bestseller "Garden of Lies" returns to Victorian London in an all-new novel of deadly obsession.

Calista Langley operates an exclusive introduction agency in Victorian London, catering to respectable ladies and gentlemen who find themselves alone in the world. But now, a dangerously obsessed individual has begun sending her trinkets and gifts suitable only for those in deepest mourning a black mirror, a funeral wreath, a ring set with black jet stone. Each is engraved with her initials.

Desperate for help and fearing that the police will be of no assistance, Calista turns to Trent Hastings, a reclusive author of popular crime novels. Believing that Calista may be taking advantage of his lonely sister, who has become one of her clients, Trent doesn't trust her. Scarred by his past, he's learned to keep his emotions at bay, even as an instant attraction threatens his resolve.

But as Trent and Calista comb through files of rejected clients in hopes of identifying her tormentor, it becomes clear that the danger may be coming from Calista's own secret past and that only her death will satisfy the stalker..

Saturday, March 31, 2018

Bea Reviews I Am Harriet Tubman, by Brad Meltzer and Illustrated by Christopher Eliopoulos

Series: Ordinary People Change the World
Publisher: Dial Books
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: January 16th, 2018 
Buying Links: Amazon* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository*  | iBooks* |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Harriet Tubman's heroic and pivotal role in the fight against slavery is the subject of the fourteenth picture book in this New York Times bestselling biography series

This friendly, fun biography series focuses on the traits that made our heroes great--the traits that kids can aspire to in order to live heroically themselves. Each book tells the story of one of America's icons in a lively, conversational way that works well for the youngest nonfiction readers and that always includes the hero's childhood influences. At the back are an excellent timeline and photos. This volume focuses on Harriet Tubman's brave heroism as part of the movement to abolish slavery. As one of the key players in the Underground Railroad, she helped enslaved African Americans escape and find freedom.

Friday, February 2, 2018

Bea Reviews Murder on a Midsummer Night by Kerry Greenwood

Bea's Book Nook, Review, Murder On A Midsummer Night, Kerry Greenwood
Series: Phryne Fisher #17
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: February 6th, 2018 
Buying Links: Amazon* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository*  | iBooks* |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

The Hon. Phryne Fisher, languid and slightly bored at the start of 1929, has been engaged to find out if the antique-shop-owning son of a Pre-Raphaelite model has died by homicide or suicide. He had some strange friends - a Balkan adventuress, a dilettante with a penchant for antiquities, a Classics professor, a medium, and a mysterious supplier who arrives after dark on a motorbike. Simultaneously, she is asked to discover the fate of the lost illegitimate child of a rich old lady, to the evident dislike of the remaining relatives.

With the help of her sister Beth, the cab drivers Bert and Cec, and even her two adoptive daughters, Phryne follows eerie leads that bring her face-to-face with the conquest of Jerusalem by General Allenby and the Australian Light Horse, kif smokers, spirit guides, pirate treasure maps, and ghosts.

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Bea Reviews Dead Man's Chest by Kerry Greenwood

Series: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries #18 
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press 
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review 
Release Date: December 5th, 2017 
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | iTunes* | Barnes & Noble | Kobo
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Traveling at high speed in her beloved Hispano-Suiza with her maid and trusted companion Dot, her two adoptive daughters Jane and Ruth, and their dog Molly, Phryne Fisher is off to Queenscliff. She'd promised everyone a nice holiday by the sea with absolutely no murders, but when they arrive at their rented accommodation that doesn't seem likely at all.

An empty house, a gang of teenage louts, a fisherboy saved, and a missing butler and his wife seem to lead inexorably toward a hunt for buried treasure by the sea. Phryne knows to what depths people will sink for greed, but with a glass of champagne in one hand and a pearl-handled Beretta in the other, no one is getting past her.

Thursday, November 16, 2017

Bea Reviews Unnatural Habits & Queen of the Flowers by Kerry Greenwood

Series: Phryne Fisher #19
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: July 4th, 2017
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | iTunes* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

1929: Girls are going missing in Melbourne. Little, pretty, golden haired girls. And not just pretty. Three of them are pregnant, poor girls from the harsh confines of the Magdalene Laundry. People are getting nervous. Polly Kettle, a pushy, self important Girl Reporter with ambition and no sense of self preservation, decides to investigate and promptly goes missing herself. It's time for Phryne and Dot to put a stop to this and find Polly Kettle before something quite irreparable happens to all of them. It's all piracy and dark cellars, convents and plots, murder and mystery .... and Phryne finally finds out if it's true that blondes have more fun.

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Bea Reviews Away with the Fairies by Kerry Greenwood

Bea's Book Nook, Review, Away with the Fairies, Kerry Greenwood
Series: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries #11 
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press 
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: August 1st, 2017 (re-release)
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository*  | iTunes* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from the publisher:


Monday, June 5, 2017

Bea Reviews Raisins and Almonds by Kerry Greenwood

Bea's Book Nook, Review, Raisins and Almonds, Kerry Greenwood
Series: Phryne Fisher #9
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: June 6th, 2017
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | iTunes* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Phryne Fisher loves dancing, especially with gorgeous young Simon Abrahams. But Phryne's contentment at the Jewish Young People's Society Dance is cut short when Simon's father asks her to investigate the strange death of a devout young student in Miss Sylvia Lee s East Market bookshop. Miss Lee has been arrested for the murder, and Phryne believes that she is a very unlikely killer. Investigation leads her into the exotic world of Yiddish, refugees, rabbis, kosher dinners, Kadimah, strange alchemical symbols, and chicken soup. With help from the old faithfuls Bert and Cec, her taxi driver friends; her devoted companion Dot; and Detective Inspector Call me Jack Robinson, Phryne picks her way through the mystery. She soon finds herself at the heart of a situation far graver and more political than she at first appreciates. And all for the price of a song .

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Guest Post & Giveaway: Breathless by Beverly Jenkins

Guest Post, Giveaway, Breathless, Beverly Jenkins

 I've not yet read Ms Jenkins but I've heard such good things about her books, and about the first book in this series, "Forbidden" (which is still sitting in my TBR pile), that I couldn't resist signing up for this tour for "Breathless".

BEVERLY JENKINS has received numerous awards, including five Waldenbooks/Borders Group Best Sellers Awards, two Career Achievement Awards from Romantic Times Magazine, and a Golden Pen Award from the Black Writer’s Guild. Ms Jenkins was named one of the Top Fifty Favorite African-American writers of the 20th Century by AABLC, the nation’s largest on-line African-American book club. She was recently nominated for the NAACP Image Award in Literature. To read more about Beverly, please visit her website at www.beverlyjenkins.net.

Monday, December 26, 2016

Bea Reviews An Import of Intrigue by Marshall Ryan Maresca

Bea's Book Nook, Review, An Import of Intrigue, Marshall Ryan Maresca
Series: Maradaine Constabulary #2
Publisher: DAW Fantasy
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: November 1st, 2016
Challenges: Finishing the Series Reading Challenge
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit* | iTunes | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Mixing high fantasy and mystery, this is Marshall Ryan Maresca’s second novel in the Maradaine Constabulary series, companion to DAW’s Maradaine Novels.

The neighborhood of the Little East is a collision of cultures, languages, and traditions, hidden away in the city of Maradaine. A set of streets to be avoided or ignored. When a foreign dignitary is murdered, solving the crime falls to the most unpopular inspectors in the Maradaine Constabulary: exposed fraud Satrine Rainey, and uncircled mage Minox Welling.

With a murder scene deliberately constructed to point blame toward the Little East, Rainey is forced to confront her former life, while Welling’s ignorance of his own power threatens to consume him. And these few city blocks threaten to erupt into citywide war unless the constabulary solves the case.

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Bea Reviews Cometh the Hour by Jeffrey Archer

Bea's Book Nook, Review, Cometh the Hour, Jeffrey Archer
Series: The Clifton Chronicles #6
Publisher: St.Martin's Press
Source: the library
Release Date: February 16th, 2016
Challenges: Finishing the Series Reading Challenge | I Love Libraries
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit*  | iTunes* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Cometh the Hour opens with the reading of a suicide note, which has devastating consequences for Harry and Emma Clifton, Giles Barrington and Lady Virginia.

Giles must decide if he should withdraw from politics and try to rescue Karin, the woman he loves, from behind the Iron Curtain. But is Karin truly in love with him, or is she a spy?

Lady Virginia is facing bankruptcy, and can see no way out of her financial problems, until she is introduced to the hapless Cyrus T. Grant III from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who's in England to see his horse run at Royal Ascot.

Sebastian Clifton is now the Chief Executive of Farthings Bank and a workaholic, whose personal life is thrown into disarray when he falls for Nadira, a beautiful Indian girl. But her parents have already chosen the man she is going to marry. Meanwhile, Sebastian's rivals Adrian Sloane and Desmond Mellor are still plotting to bring him and his chairman Hakim Bishara down, so they can take over Farthings.

Harry Clifton remains determined to get Anatoly Babakov released from a gulag in Siberia, following the international success of his acclaimed book, Uncle Joe. Harry's wife Emma convinces her new friend Margaret Thatcher to raise the subject with the Russian President when she visits Moscow. But then something unexpected happens that none of them could have anticipated.

Cometh the Hour is the penultimate book in the Clifton Chronicles and, like the five previous novels - all of which went to number one on the Sunday Times bestseller list - showcases Jeffrey Archer's extraordinary storytelling with his trademark twists.

Friday, October 7, 2016

Sophia Rose Reviews Burning Bright by Melissa McShane

Series: #1 The Extraordinaires
Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press
Source: publisher in exchange for an honest review
Format: eARC
Pages:  318
Release Date: August 15th, 2016 
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

In 1812, Elinor Pembroke wakes to find her bedchamber in flames—and extinguishes them with a thought. At 21, she is old to manifest magical talent, but the evidence is unmistakable: she not only has the ability to start fires, but the far more powerful ability to control and extinguish them. She is an Extraordinary, and the only one in England capable of wielding fire in over one hundred years.

As an Extraordinary, she is respected and feared, but to her father, she represents power and prestige for himself. Mr. Pembroke, having spent his life studying magic, is determined to control Elinor and her talent by forcing her to marry where he chooses, a marriage that will produce even more powerful offspring. Trapped between the choices of a loveless marriage or living penniless and dependent on her parents, Elinor takes a third path: she defies tradition and society to join the Royal Navy.

Assigned to serve under Captain Miles Ramsay aboard the frigate Athena, she turns her fiery talent on England’s enemies, French privateers and vicious pirates preying on English ships in the Caribbean. At first feared by her shipmates, a growing number of victories make her truly part of Athena’s crew and bring her joy in her fire. But as her power grows and changes in unexpected ways, Elinor’s ability to control it is challenged. She may have the power to destroy her enemies utterly—but could it be at the cost of her own life?

Saturday, August 20, 2016

GIVEAWAY! Hot Harlequin August Historical and Intrigue Books!




The fine print:

Contest runs from August 18, 2016 - August 26, 2016
Open to residents of the U.S. and Canada (excluding Quebec), 18 years of age or older.
Giveaway hosted by me; Harlequin will ship directly to the winner.
No purchase necessary.
Void where prohibited.
Bea's Book Nook giveaway and privacy policies

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Monday, August 8, 2016

Guest Review: Sophia Rose Reviews No Pity for the Dead by Nancy Herriman

Review, Sophia Rose, No Pity for the Dead, Nancy Herriman, Bea's Book Nook
Series: Mystery of Old San Francisco #2
Publisher: NAL
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: August 2nd 2016
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | ARe*/OmniLit*  | iTunes | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

The author of No Comfort for the Lost returns with a new mystery of Old San Francisco...

British-born nurse Celia Davies runs a free medical clinic to assist the poor women of San Francisco. Aided in her endeavors by her half-Chinese cousin Barbara and feisty housekeeper Addie, Celia has earned the trust and friendship of many of the city’s downtrodden, including a young orphan named Owen—who’s just confided to her that he’s stumbled upon a corpse.

Owen recently started working for the ruthless real estate and development group, Martin and Company, and discovered a dead body in the office’s basement. Celia turns to Detective Nick Greaves for help, only to learn that one of the main suspects—the husband of Celia’s dearest friend—is an old enemy of Nick’s.

Now, Celia and Nick must put aside their personal feelings about the case—and each other—if they’re going to bring a killer to justice...

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

GIVEAWAY, INTERVIEW, & RECIPES: A Dictionary Of Mutual Understanding by Jackie Copleton

GIVEAWAY, INTERVIEW, RECIPES, A Dictionary Of Mutual Understanding by Jackie Copleton

This book appealed to several of us here but we weren't able to review it so I decided we'd feature it. There's a short Q&A with the author, Jackie Copleton, some Japanese recipes (including cake!), and the publisher is giving away one copy of the book to a US reader. Make yourself comfy and enjoy!

Jackie Copleton spent three years teaching English in Nagasaki and Sapporo. A journalist, she now lives with her husband in Glasgow, Scotland.
Find Jackie Online:

website
twitter
goodreads

Monday, October 19, 2015

Bea Reviews A Murder of Mages by Marshall Ryan Maresca

Series: The Maradaine Constabulary #1 
Publisher: DAW 
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: July 7, 2015
Challenges: NetGalley and Edelweiss ARCs
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit*   | iTunes* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

A Murder of Mages marks the debut of Marshall Ryan Maresca’s novels of The Maradaine Constabulary, his second series set amid the bustling streets and crime-ridden districts of the exotic city called Maradaine. A Murder of Mages introduces us to this spellbinding port city as seen through the eyes of the people who strive to maintain law and order, the hardworking men and women of the Maradaine Constabulary.

Satrine Rainey—former street rat, ex-spy, mother of two, and wife to a Constabulary Inspector who lies on the edge of death, injured in the line of duty—has been forced to fake her way into the post of Constabulary Inspector to support her family.

Minox Welling is a brilliant, unorthodox Inspector and an Uncircled mage—almost a crime in itself. Nicknamed “the jinx” because of the misfortunes that seem to befall anyone around him, Minox has been partnered with Satrine because no one else will work with either of them.

Their first case together—the ritual murder of a Circled mage— sends Satrine back to the streets she grew up on and brings Minox face-to-face with mage politics he’s desperate to avoid. As the body count rises, Satrine and Minox must race to catch the killer before their own secrets are exposed and they, too, become targets.

Monday, October 12, 2015

Bea Reviews Thoreau in Phantom Bog by B.B. Oak

Publisher: Kensington
Series: Henry David Thoreau Mystery #3 
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: August 25, 2015
Challenges:
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit*  | iTunes | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Henry David Thorea’s impassioned activism in the Underground Railroad leads him away from the banks of Walden Pond into a morass of murder…

In the spring of 1848, Thoreau returns to Plumford, Massachusetts, in search of a fellow conductor on the Underground Railroad, who has gone missing along with the escaped female slave he was assigned to transport. With the help of his good friend, Dr. Adam Walker, Thoreau finds the conductor—shot to death on a back road.

When the two men discover that Adam’s beloved cousin Julia has given the slave safe harbor, their relief is counterbalanced by concern for Julia, who has put herself in grave danger. Another conductor has been murdered in a neighboring town and a letter has been found from someone claiming to have been hired to assassinate anyone harboring fugitive slaves. With all of them now potential targets, the need for Thoreau and Adam to apprehend the killer is more urgent than ever.

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Bea Reviews Move Your Blooming Corpse by D.E. Ireland

Publisher: Minotaur Books
Series: Eliza Doolittle & Henry Higgins #2
Source: the author/pr firm/publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: September 22, 2015
Challenges:
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit*  | iTunes* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

In the second book from talented writing team D.E. Ireland, famous literary characters Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins once again come to life as a hilarious investigative team. Move Your Blooming Corpse explores the Edwardian racing world and the fascinating characters who people it, from jockeys to duchesses, in this delightful traditional mystery that will appeal to fans of British mysteries.

Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins are at the posh Royal Ascot, the biggest horse racing event of the season. Eliza's father is the new co-owner of a champion racehorse, and Eliza and Henry are excited to cheer the Donegal Dancer on to victory. However, their idyllic outing takes a serious turn when a victim is trampled during the Gold Cup race and someone is found murdered in the stables.

With time running out before the upcoming Eclipse Stakes, she and Higgins investigate jealous spouses, suffragettes and the colorful co-owners of the Donegal Dancer. But can they outrace the murderer, or will there be another blooming corpse at the finish line?